“It’s up high in the air and he has taken it. Misbah-ul-Haq is out and
India is in the Finals.”, commentator screamed on TV.
We jumped with joy. India has defeated Pakistan by 29 runs and has entered the Finals of World Cup 2011. It was a good win and indeed a thrilling match. Good to watch Suresh Riana riding the runs to decent level. Great bowling by Riaz.
I could feel that the hunger to win is satisfied for me and millions of Indians but hunger for food was getting intense in my stomach. So, I started leaving Arvind’s place to have my supper. It was 10.45 in the night. I kicked my bike and I could here nothing but sound of crackers. I and Nitesh (my pillion friend) were having useless detailed analysis of the match (useless only because we were not being broadcasted on TV).
We headed towards Bharti Vidyapeeth. I have not imagined the intensity of happiness running on the roads. I can’t imagine how millions would look like. But I have seen few thousands of people on road in Pune for the first time at 10:45 in night, including woman and children of almost all possible age. (It’s fearful for a moment, trust me). Boys were driving on the road, shouting every possible slogan they knew. I have seen flags of almost all the major political parties within an area of 1 KM.
I somehow managed to drive through fire crackers and drunken enthusiasts. I was excited, for India has also somehow managed to reach the finals. (It really feels good when such “somehow” works. Engineers would know better). After reaching my room safely, I went to the gallery. I could still hear the slogan. I could still see people with bottle of beer, stopping cars to enjoy fire crackers.
A kid, around 10 yrs. Old, was standing with his father and enjoying the crackers. He immediately popped a question to his father “Why are we celebrating?”. Father promptly replied “We defeated Pakistan.”. “But, we defeated many countries in this World Cup. Why don’t we celebrate then?” was the immediate question by the toddler. This question was answered by silence. Co-incidentally no sound of crackers for few seconds too. His father was not able to utter a word and suddenly his attention was diverted by a cracker. It was a million dollar question for every single Indian. (May be Indians don’t want to be millionaire. In other words don’t want to answer this question.)
This silence recalled all the sites I have seen in last 1 hour. And the answer that I found to kiddos question was “HATERED”. We all were happy because India has won. But we all were celebrating because we have defeated Pakistan. We hate this country so much that we love to see them loosing in all walks of life.
It’s been 60 yrs of separation. And the problem of differences in these 2 countries is getting intense day-by-day. I could imagine a kid in Pakistan asking same question about their defeat to his father. I could also hear the silence between them. The picture is clear. We are passing this hatred to next generation. Our generation has seen the terrible effects of this enmity. But, if we really want that our next generation to leave in peace, we should be able to overcome these wounds. It’s better to hide our wounds then to see our kids with the same wounds. And when I think of “We” I mean India and Pakistan. It’s spreading like disease.
Someday we have to stop the inheritance of this virus in our DNA.
